Nine former Colombian soldiers arrested for the killing of eight Mexican soldiers with an anti-personnel mine.

The Secretary of Security, Omar García Harfuch, has announced that during an operation in the municipality of Los Reyes, Michoacán, 17 people were arrested, 12 of whom are Colombian citizens linked to the murder of eight soldiers with a landmine. Harfuch detailed that nine of them are ex-military with extensive experience and three have military training in the use of weapons. He also stated that they entered the country legally and are part of a transnational recruitment pattern by drug traffickers.

On May 27, a landmine exploded as a convoy of the National Guard patrolled a dirt road near the town of El Santuario in Los Reyes. The armored military vehicle did not provide sufficient protection for its passengers. The explosion instantly killed six soldiers and injured two others, who succumbed to their injuries after being transferred to a hospital in Apatzingán. The military were conducting an operation in the region, a stronghold of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

“They are not active military. The head of the National Intelligence Center held a meeting here with his Colombian counterpart. […] They are not linked to any armed group. In the case of these individuals, everyone entered through Mexico City Airport. Currently, in coordination with Colombian authorities, 69 individuals have been returned to their home country after being interviewed at the airport in coordination with the Navy Secretariat. Some mentioned that they had indeed been recruited by a criminal group,” Harfuch reported.

The border between Michoacán and Jalisco, one of the major bastions of the CJNG alongside Guanajuato, has become one of the fronts in President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government effort to show results to the United States, which designated the criminal organization led by Nemesio Oseguera, aka El Mencho, as a terrorist group — along with five other cartels. In March, four soldiers and three hitmen were killed in a criminal ambush that escalated into a fierce battle across the towns of Guadalupe de Lerma, Zamora, Ocotlán, and Tanhuato. After the shootings, the CJNG blocked roads and burned vehicles. Three days later, 300 kilometers away in Autlán de Navarro, the Army counterattacked by land and air under the cover of three helicopters. Two more national guardsmen were killed.

Recruited through Deception

Colombian President Gustavo Petro confirmed via a tweet from his official account on June 4 that the detained citizens were members of the Armed Forces of that country and had been hired by the Cartel de los Reyes, which is in a territorial dispute with the CJNG in Michoacán. “In Colombia, mercenarism must be prohibited with a high penalty of imprisonment; public money from Colombia and even money from the North American people should not be used to train people who later sell their military knowledge to the enemies of humanity. That is a betrayal to the Colombian homeland,” the president wrote.

Meanwhile, the consul of the South American nation in Mexico, Alfredo Molano, suggested the hypothesis that many of these ex-military individuals are misled by human trafficking networks, offering them security jobs with high salaries. Once in Mexico, they are threatened and stripped of their documentation to prevent them from escaping.

This version has been confirmed by testimonies from relatives of Colombian ex-military personnel recruited in Mexico by drug traffickers, as reported by Radio Ambulante in a report. The job description offered to them is to provide security for citrus plantations. The offer includes generous benefits and the promise that they will return to Colombia within six months. However, “it’s all a setup,” according to one survivor.

“When we arrived there [at the supposed plantation], quite a few people arrived. I don’t know, 30, 40, 50 armed men with rifles, machine guns in high-end, armored trucks, looking like anything but police, military, or good people. That was not what I sought for my life, and that was not within my principles. Serving a country for 20-plus years legally to become a thug, a criminal for a Mexican drug cartel was not in my principles nor was it contemplated in my life,” states this survivor ex-military to the same media outlet.

The other theory presented by the diplomat is that these ex-military individuals come to the country for the high sums offered. The magazine Semana reported that the salaries they are offered can reach up to 37,000 pesos (almost 2,000 dollars) if they survive each month defending CJNG’s sovereignty.

According to Harfuch, the Security Secretariat continues investigations and communication and coordination with Colombian authorities to prevent these recruitment activities from continuing.